Jose Mourinho said on Wednesday that Neymar’s move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain has changed everything in the transfer market and that Manchester United saved millions by getting Romelu Lukaku before the Brazilian’s deal got finalised.

In an interview to the Times, Mourinho said, “I think we were very clever. We thought that something could happen that could change the market forever. Normally the last part of the market is less expensive, but this season, after Neymar, everything changed – and changed for the worse in terms of prices.”

“I think Lukaku on August 31 would have been £150m. Matic would have been £60m or £70m. Neymar changed everything. If the biggest transfer in history had still been Paul Pogba, I think Philippe Coutinho would now be in Barcelona at £101m.”

“People look at the £200m figure now. Now the players of £20m became £40m, the players of £40m became £60m and everything changed. Lukaku and Matic, now, would have cost us £200m in total. But because we did it in the first part of the summer, it was much less. I think we did well in financial terms and well in preparation terms, getting them before the season started. That is not crucial but it is important,” he added.